Faculty

Paul Dean

Associate ProfessorGraduate Coordinator

Art/Graphic Design
BA University of North Carolina
MPD North Carolina State University

Paul Dean has been teaching typography, color theory, and graphic design history at the LSU School of Art for more than 20 years. He graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1980 with a bachelor’s degree in radio, television, and motion pictures. He subsequently received a Master of Product Design from North Carolina State University’s College of Design in 1986, just as the school’s graphic design program was emerging. He has also taught at Missouri State University. Dean’s art work is thrift minded, collage-based, pop-ish, and surreal. He is a regularly exhibiting member of the Baton Rouge Gallery.

Artist’s Statement

Years ago, I defined my particular brand of art as “thrift assemblage.” I would make art, existing of materials I would find at thrift stores and other sources. Reuse is better than recycling. Collage is my primary medium, but I am open to anything. I like art with a conceptual basis in any medium but particularly art that is amusing, at least on some level. If it doesn’t cheer someone up, then what’s the point?

The collages in my most recent show, The Gates to Heaven (Baton Rouge Gallery, September 2013), were developed as a tribute to and a celebration of my artistic inspirations, from Monet’s impressionism to the pop art of Andy Warhol, as well as other sources, such as oriental carpets. It was art about art, intended to amuse and possibly educate the viewer. These framed works were accompanied by a series of six quilts, composed of thrift-store aloha shirts, arranged by myself and manufactured by Campus Quilt Company in Louisville, Kentucky.